Soseki’s short novel, set in 1907 Tokyo, is a bildungsroman, in which the eponymous country bumpkin hero, Sanshiro, moves from Kyushu to study and encounters a cast of more worldly characters, all revolving around the life of the university. “Sanshiro shook off these ruminations and turned to thoughts of a different world. He was going to Tokyo. He would enter the University. He would meet famous scholars, associate with students of taste and breeding, do research in the library, write books. Society would acclaim him, his mother would be overjoyed. Once he had cheered himself with such derelict dreams of the future, there was no need for Sanshiro to go on burying his face in page twenty-three. He straightened up.”
In his first year at university, Sanshiro tries his best to study, but life often gets in the way. “On bad days he would fail to write down their most essential points, and at the worst of times he felt he was listening with ears rented from a stranger. It was all so stupid…. More a rambler in the groves of academe than a serious student, Sanshiro read comparatively little. One pastime he enjoyed, however, was to savor repeatedly the memorable scenes he encountered. This gave life greater depth.”
Inevitably, mingling with eccentric philosophers and artists, falling in love with beautiful women, and slurping noodles while drinking sake all night with his best friend Yojiro ended up consuming more of his time than classwork. “Three worlds took shape for Sanshiro. One of them was far away and had the fragrance of the past, of what Yojiro called the years before Meiji 15. Everything there was tranquil, yes, but everything was sleepy, too. It would not be difficult for him to go back, of course. He need only go. But he would not want to do that except as a last resort. It was, after all, a place of retreat, and in it he had sealed up the discarded past…. In his second world stood a mossy brick building. It had a reading room so vast that, standing in one corner, he could not make out the features of people in the other. There were books shelved so high they could not be reached without a ladder, books blackened with the rubbing of hands, the oil of fingers, books whose titles shone with gold…. The men in this world were unfortunate, for they knew nothing of the real world. But they were fortunate as well, for they had fled the Burning House of worldly suffering. Professor Hirota was in this second world. So, too, was Nonomiya. Sanshiro stood where he could understand the air of this world more or less. He could leave it whenever he wished. But to do so, to relinquish a taste he had finally begun to savor, was something he was loath to do…. Sanshiro’s third world was as radiant and fluid as spring, a world of electric lights, of silver spoons, of cheers and laughter, of glasses bubbling over with champagne. And crowning everything were beautiful women…. This world was just in front of him, but it was unapproachable, like a shaft of lightning in the farthest heavens. Sanshiro gazed at it from afar and found it baffling…. Lying in bed, Sanshiro set his three worlds in a row and compared them, each to the others. Then he mixed the three together and from the mixture obtained a conclusion. The best thing would be to bring his mother from the country, marry a beautiful woman, and devote himself to learning. It was a mediocre conclusion.”
